


More Than a Stocking

by PinkPandorafrog



Series: Advent Calendar 2020 [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPandorafrog/pseuds/PinkPandorafrog
Summary: Sometimes it's hard being at home.
Relationships: Darcy Lewis/Natasha Romanov/Sharon Carter
Series: Advent Calendar 2020 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035660
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	More Than a Stocking

**Author's Note:**

> December 18's prompt is stocking.

Darcy trudged down the street from the bus stop to her home. The streetlights left cold puddles of light along the damp concrete. She wasn’t particularly looking forward to getting home. It wasn’t like it wasn’t a nice house, and she’d helped make it practically explode with festive decorations.

There was a fireplace too, that was nice. She hadn’t had an actual fireplace since she’d moved out of her parents’ house. Cold nights like this, it was nice to curl up in front of the fire with a blanket and a book.

It was  _ lonely _ though, and that was starting to eat at her. She knew that both of her partners loved her, but this had been a busy couple months for international crime and super villainy, and she felt like she’d hardly seen them in forever. It didn’t help that it felt like they got to see each other more than they saw her. And they’d been together for a good few years before she’d recently entered into their relationship.

She was a little surprised to look up and see the windows in the house glowing with warm light behind the curtains. She wasn’t expecting anyone home until at least next week, and anxiety surged through her. Had someone broken in or something?

No, that was Sharon’s car, and smoke curled up from the chimney. Those were good signs. Although… If Sharon was home early, did that mean something was wrong? She sped up, half-formed scenarios flashing through her mind.

Opening the door engulfed her in the scent of freshly-baked shortbread. “Hello?” she called, quickly stepping into the warmth and shutting the door behind her.

Sharon poked her head around the corner into the foyer. “Hey. We made dinner.”

“We?” Darcy echoed. She peered through the house like she’d be able to see whoever else Sharon was talking about. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Nat appeared at the end of the hall. “Everything’s great.” She wore a smile, one of her warm, private smiles that always made Darcy melt.

“Okay.” Darcy let out a sigh of relief, the knot of tension between her shoulders easing. Once she’d peeled off all of her outerwear, she exchanged a hug and a kiss with each of them. “It’s so good to see you guys, honestly.”

“You too.” Sharon caught her hand and they headed for the kitchen.

Dinner was an absolutely delicious stir fry with shrimp and asparagus and a bunch of tasty things. They ate in the living room, in front of the fire with the lights on the Christmas tree twinkling away in the background. Nat produced wine from somewhere, and they ate and talked about what they’d been up to for the past little while.

“What about you?” Sharon asked. “You seem a little out of sorts lately.”

“Yeah.” Darcy pulled the last piece of asparagus into her mouth and pushed her plate forward on the coffee table. “Just lonely. Especially this time of year, everything is all  _ togetherness _ and  _ family _ and all that stuff. But I’m okay. You guys didn’t need to come back early or anything.” Guilt gnawed at her, and she took a sip of wine.

“I didn’t.” Sharon rested her hand on Darcy’s shoulder, and Darcy gave her fingers a squeeze. “We were just done early, and I’d much rather be here than out there.”

“I did,” Nat countered with an unrepentant air. “Told Fury I wanted to spend some time with my family.” She’d do it too, and Darcy wasn’t really surprised Fury had capitulated. “We were worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” Darcy insisted. After all, she wasn’t the one going out and actually doing the dangerous stuff. The guilt intensified, and she stared into the wine. “I was just… lonely, and you guys have been together forever and I’m still catching up, and I just feel a bit behind.” It sounded stupid when she said it, but that didn’t stop her from feeling it.

“I get that,” Sharon said softly. She shifted forward off the couch until she sat on the floor next to Darcy. “We were together first, and especially if you don’t see us to be able to catch up on that time you missed…”

Sharon made it sound reasonable, and not stupid at all. “Yeah, that.”

“Go get the thing,” Nat said. She took a sip of her own wine before putting her glass on the table.

“Yeah.” Sharon’s lips pressed into something like a smile, but she got to her feet and headed for the stairs.

“The thing?” Darcy echoed, staring after Sharon. “What thing?” She looked a question at Nat, but Nat just had one of those enigmatic smiles on her face.

Nat patted the couch beside her, and Darcy shifted up to snuggle into her side. She’d missed this for sure, the cuddling on the couch. Especially now that it was cold enough to snuggle without feeling like she was going to melt.

Sharon came back down the stairs a few seconds later, something rolled up in her hand. It looked like fabric from a distance, but Darcy wasn’t sure what it was. She perched on the edge of the couch on Darcy’s other side, and she actually looked nervous. “Here.” She held it out.

It was a stocking. It wasn’t just any stocking, it was a felt stocking with Christmasy cats and Darcy’s name embroidered at the top. It was absolutely adorable.

And it matched the other two stockings that hung from the mantel. That had been one of the things contributing to the feeling of being left behind - she wasn’t included in the family. She didn’t even have a stocking yet. But here it was.

“I made it in my downtime at work.” Sharon scrubbed her hands over her thighs, a nervous gesture.

“And they gave her so much shit about it,” Nat added with the slightest smirk.

“I love it!” Darcy exclaimed. She threw her arms around Sharon, and their lips met in a soft kiss. “Thank you, for real.”

“Oh good.” Sharon’s relief was almost a physical thing. “I was worried you would think it was stupid.”

“Are you kidding? I love it!” Darcy practically sprang to her feet. She stepped out from between them, and went to hang it from a third hook that had mysteriously turned up between the other two. The stocking looked absolutely perfect hanging between Nat’s ice skating penguins and Sharon’s tree decorating bears.

As soon as it was up, she went to sit between them again. Her head went on Nat’s shoulder, and Sharon draped herself over Darcy’s side, lacing their fingers together. Maybe she couldn’t make up for time they’d spent together without her, but they could make every moment they had together priceless.


End file.
